Grassley defends vow to block debate on Supreme Court nominee

By Steven T. Dennis, Bloomberg

March 10, 2016

Photo: DOUG MILLS /NYT

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, talks with a staffer during an executive business meeting of the committee, in Washington, March 10, 2016. At the meeting, ranking committee member Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told senators that they all took an oath to office and they should hold hearings on any nominee for Supreme Court Justice that President Barack Obama nominates. less

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, talks with a staffer during an executive business meeting of the committee, in Washington, March 10, 2016. At the meeting, ranking ... more

Photo: DOUG MILLS /NYT

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speaks while Attorney General Loretta Lynch gives testimony before a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, March 9, 2016. Also pictured is Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah), left. less

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speaks while Attorney General Loretta Lynch gives testimony before a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, March 9, 2016. Also pictured is Sen. ... more

Photo: Zach Gibson /NYT

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FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2011 file photo, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia looks into the balcony before addressing the Chicago-Kent College Law justice in Chicago. The late Justice Antonin Scalia's writing turned up in dueling Supreme Court opinions Tuesday, a fitting tribute to the justice who co-authored an entire book on interpreting the law. less

FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2011 file photo, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia looks into the balcony before addressing the Chicago-Kent College Law justice in Chicago. The late Justice Antonin Scalia's writing ... more

Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast /AP

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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at the memorial service for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Tuesday, March 1, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at the memorial service for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Tuesday, March 1, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

Photo: Susan Walsh /AP

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Pro-abortion rights protesters rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, March 2, 2016. The abortion debate is returning to the Supreme Court in the midst of a raucous presidential campaign and less than three weeks after Justice Antonin Scalias death. The justices are taking up the biggest case on the topic in nearly a quarter century and considering whether a Texas law that regulates abortion clinics hampers a womans constitutional right to obtain an abortion. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) less

Pro-abortion rights protesters rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, March 2, 2016. The abortion debate is returning to the Supreme Court in the midst of a raucous presidential campaign and ... more

Photo: Susan Walsh, STF / AP

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Anti-abortion activists rally outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, March 2, 2016, following oral arguments in the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, which deals with access to abortion in Texas. The US Supreme Court on March 2 took up its most important abortion case in a generation, the outcome of which could impact the ability of millions of women to end an unwanted pregnancy -- as well as the White House race. With the court now split evenly between liberals and conservatives following the death of Antonin Scalia, all eyes are on Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wields a swing vote on the issue, one of the most divisive in the world of US politics. less

Anti-abortion activists rally outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, March 2, 2016, following oral arguments in the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, which deals with access to abortion in ... more

Photo: Saul LoebH /Getty Images

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FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2006 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia gives the keynote speech on the debate over the role that international and foreign law should play in American judicial decision-making, during a day-long symposium at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. Dow Chemical says it will pay $835 million to settle a long-standing class action lawsuit, after the death of Scalia decreased its chances of prevailing at the Supreme Court. The company was found liable in 2013 by a Kansas jury of allegedly conspiring to fix prices for polyurethane, an industrial chemical. Dow had petitioned the Supreme Court to reconsider the judgment. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) less

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2006 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia gives the keynote speech on the debate over the role that international and foreign law should play in American judicial ... more

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite /Associated Press

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, smiles as he is joined by, from right to left, Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., speaks with reporters following a closed-door policy meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. The Senate will take no action on anyone President Barack Obama nominates to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, Senator McConnell said as nearly all Republicans rallied behind his calls to leave the seat vacant for the next president to fill. His announcement came after Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee ruled out any hearing for an Obama pick. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) less

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, smiles as he is joined by, from right to left, Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., speaks with ... more

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, STF / Associated Press

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A portion of the letter obtained by The Associate Press, from the U. S. Capitol Attending Physician's Office to the judge overseeing issuing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's death certificate is photographed in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. (AP Photo) less

A portion of the letter obtained by The Associate Press, from the U. S. Capitol Attending Physician's Office to the judge overseeing issuing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's death certificate is ... more

Photo: J. David Ake, STF / AP

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WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 25: Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (C), gathered in front of the Supreme Court to hold a news conference and demand that Senate Republicans hold confirmation hearings when President Barack Obama names a news Supreme Court justice nominee February 25, 2016 in Washington, DC. GOP leaders in the Senate said they would not hold a confirmation hearing after Obama said he would name someone to replace Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who died earlier this month while on a hunting trip in Texas. less

President Barack Obama answers questions from members of the media during his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Obama urged the Republican-run Senate to fulfill its "constitutional responsibility" and consider his Supreme Court nominee, pushing back on GOP leaders who insist there will be no hearing or vote when he names a successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia. less

President Barack Obama answers questions from members of the media during his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Obama urged ... more

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais /AP

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In this Feb. 19, 2016, file photo, people line up to pay their respects to the late Justice Antonin Scalia in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, where Scalia's body lies in repose. Scalias voluminous public information file is remarkably short on any details related to his health, just a report of minor shoulder surgery in 2003. less

In this Feb. 19, 2016, file photo, people line up to pay their respects to the late Justice Antonin Scalia in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, where Scalia's body lies ... more

Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta /AP

Grassley defends vow to block debate on Supreme Court nominee

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By Steven T. Dennis

Bloomberg

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley vigorously defended his vow to block hearings and votes on any Supreme Court nominee this year in a highly charged committee meeting Thursday.

The Iowa Republican said he would not be swayed, and accused Democrats of playing politics by demanding a hearing and votes for a nominee Republicans would surely block.

“Why all this outrage about a hearing? Why the demands for a hearing that everyone knows would never result in a confirmation? It’s because the other side is committed to using this process to score as many political points as possible. That’s it. Plain and simple,” Grassley said.

Democrats have seized on Grassley’s blockade, with former Iowa Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge announcing she will run against him as he faces re-election this year. Judge met this week with Senate Democrats, and Minority Leader Harry Reid called her “one Judge Senator Grassley can’t ignore.”

President Barack Obama is expected in the coming days or weeks to nominate someone to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. He is considering a number of possible candidates, including a federal appeals court judge from Iowa, Jane Kelly, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Constitutional Debate

The ranking Democrat on Senate Judiciary, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, dismissed Grassley’s defense, saying that denying a hearing on a Supreme Court nomination would be unprecedented. In every instance, even when the Judiciary Committee opposed a Supreme Court nominee, the nomination was reported to the full Senate for consideration, Leahy said.

“I’m sorry that you feel that somehow this attention is directed at you and it’s about you. It’s not. It’s about the Constitution,” Leahy said to Grassley.

During the Senate Judiciary Committee’s first business meeting since Scalia’s death, Grassley quoted at length from a 1992 Senate floor speech by Joe Biden, who chaired the Judiciary panel at the time, urging President Bush to consider not nominating a replacement should a Supreme Court opening arise before the election.

“Chairman Biden was making the point that all of us know to be true, but only some of us are willing to admit: considering a Supreme Court nomination in the middle of a presidential campaign would be all politics, and no Constitution,” Grassley said in prepared remarks.

Election-Year ‘Cauldron’

Grassley made clear nothing would sway him, not even if Obama nominates an Iowa judge.

“In case there is any confusion over whether this obvious political ploy would work, let me be crystal clear: It won’t,” he said. “We’re not going to drop any nominee into that election-year ‘cauldron,’ and I’m certainly not going to let it happen to an Iowan.”

Leahy retorted that the Constitution requires Obama to nominate and the Senate to consider that nomination.

“The American people want us to do our job. We’re paid to do our job,” Leahy said.

But Grassley said he can’t find any Democrat who disagreed with Biden in 1992 or any editorials attacking him either.

“So much for fairness,” said Grassley, who has faced numerous editorials blasting his stance back in Iowa.

‘Setting a Precedent’

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina acknowledged Republicans were setting a precedent that would block consideration of any nominee by presidents in their final year in office.

“We are setting a precedent here today, Republicans are,” he said. “That’s going to be the new rule.”

Graham also added that he would vote for a qualified nominee by a President Hillary Clinton, even though he expected she would pick somebody more liberal than Obama would send to the Senate.

Democrats warned of chaos from a deadlocked 4-4 Supreme Court, which could leave in effect conflicting appeals court rulings in different parts of the country.

But Grassley said there have been multiple times in history where the Supreme Court had a vacancy for more than a year.